Chapter-10
Next day, Jane Eyre woke up early in the morning. She heard some noise outside the room of Mr Rochester. She went up there and asked Grace Poole, one of the members at Thornfield Hall, what the noise was about. She told Jane that the members of Thornfield Hall had assembled there to discuss Mr Rochester’s narrow escape last night. Jane also enquired of Mrs Fairfax about it. Mrs Fairfax told Jane that Mr Rochester had slept with a candle lit in his room and the curtains had caught fire. There was no mention of Jane who had saved the life of Mr Rochester.
Mrs Fairfax told Jane that Mr Rochester had gone to the Leas which was a few miles away from Millcote. He had gone there to meet Mr Eshton who lived there with his beautiful wife and three young daughters. Jane said to Mrs Fairfax, “Madam! when will Mr Rochester return from there?”
Mrs Fairfax replied, “Jane! Mr Rochester is talented and lively. His company is sought after by many ladies who are very fond of him. There are Mrs Eshton and her three beautiful girls. Then, there are Ms Blanche Ingram and Ms Mary Ingram, the most beautiful women. It is expected that he will stay there for at least a week.” Saying these words Mrs Fairfax returned to her room, so did Jane Eyre.
Days rolled by. One day, Mrs Fairfax received a letter from Mr Rochester. It was mentioned in the letter that Mr Rochester would arrive at Thornfield Hall within the next three days. Instructions were sent to make arrangements. The party was expected to arrive within the next three days.
Mrs Fairfax said to Jane, “The letter states that Mr Rochester will be back next Thursday. I don’t know how many of the fine people at the Leas are coming with him. He sends directions for all the best bedrooms to be prepared; the library and the drawing rooms are to be cleaned out. I am to get more kitchen hands from the George Inn at Millcote. The ladies will bring their maids and the gentlemen their valets. So, we shall have a full house of it.”
Saying these words Mrs Fairfax swallowed her breakfast and hastened away to commence operations. The three days were, as she had foretold, busy enough. Jane had thought all the rooms at Thornfield beautifully clean and well arranged. Three women were got to help. Scrubbing, brushing, washing of paint and beating of carpets, taking down and putting up of pictures, polishing of mirrors and lustres, lighting of fires in bedrooms, airing of sheets and feather-beds on hearths—she never beheld, either before or since.
Adele ran quite wild in the midst of it. The preparation for company and the prospect of their arrival seemed to throw her into ecstasies. She would have Sophie to look over all her toilettes. For herself, Adele did nothing but caper about in the front chambers, jump on and off the bedsteads and lie on the mattresses and piled-up bolsters and pillows before the enormous fires roaring in the chimneys. From school duties she was exonerated.
Mrs Fairfax had pressed Jane into her service. Jane was all day in the storeroom helping her and the cook, learning to make custards, cheese-cakes and French pastry, trussing game and garnishing dessert-dishes.
The party was expected to arrive on Thursday afternoon, in time for dinner at six. During the intervening period Jane had no time to nurse Chimeras. She was as active and gay as anybody. Now and then, she received a damping check to her cheerfulness.
One day, she chanced to see the third-storey staircase door (which of late had always been kept locked) open slowly and gave passage to the form of Grace Poole in prim cap, white capron, and handkerchief. When Jane watched her glide along the gallery, her quiet tread muffled in a list slipper. When she saw her look into the bustling, topsy-turvy bedrooms—just say a word, perhaps, to the charwoman about the proper way to polish a grate or clean a marble mantelpiece or take stains from papered walls and then pass on.
She would thus desend to the kitchen once a day, eat her dinner, smoke a moderate pipe on the hearth and go back, carrying her pot of porter with her, for her private solace, in her own gloomy, upper haunt. Only one hour in the twenty-four did she pass with her fellow-servants below; all the rest of her time was spent in some low-ceiled, oaken chamber of the second storey. There, she sat and sewed—properly laughed drearily to herself—as companionless as a prisoner in his dungeon.
The strangest thing of all was that not a soul in the house, except Jane, noticed her habits or seemed to marvel at them. Nobody discussed her position or employment. Nobody pitied her solitude or isolation. Jane once, indeed, overheard part of a dialogue between Leah and one of the charwomen, of which Grace formed the subject. Leah had been saying something Jane had not caught. The charwoman remarked, “She gets good wages; I guess.”
“Yes,” said Leah.
Doesn’t she know? Jane heard the woman whisper. Leah shook her head. The conversation was of course dropped. All Jane had gathered from the discussion that there was mystery at Thornfield. She was purposely excluded from participation in that mystery.
Thursday came. All work had been completed the previous evening.
Carpets were laid down, furniture polished, vases decorated with flowers in bloom, bed-hangings fastooned, radiant white counterpanes spread, toilet tables arranged. Both chambers and saloons looked as fresh and bright as hands could make them. The hall, too, was scoured; and the great carved clock, as well as the steps and banisters of the staircase, were polished to the brightness of glass. In the dining room, the sideboard flashed resplendent with plate. In the drawing room and boudoir, vases of exotics bloomed on all sides. Each and every corner of Thornfield Hall was beautified. On the day of the arrival of the party, Mrs Fairfax wore her best black stain gown. Adele, too, was dressed beautifully by Jane Eyre, her governess.
Finally, Mr Rochester along with some beautiful ladies arrived at Thornfield Hall. As soon as they reached there, they retired in to the drawing room of Thornfield Hall. Mrs Fairfax welcomed them all and made arrangements for their meals. After some time, Mrs Fairfax told Jane that Mr Rochester liked to see her along with Adele in the evening. As evening approached, Jane Eyre wore her best dress which she purchased on the occasion of the marriage of Miss Temple. Jane along with Adele entered the drawing room. Jane took a window seat as she did not want to be noticed by the ladies who were wearing fancy clothes. Adele got busy chattering alternately in French and broken English. She was getting attention from all the ladies.
Mrs Eshton had evidently been a beautiful woman, and was well preserved still. Of her daughters, the eldest, Any, was rather little, naive and childlike in face and manner, and piquant in form. Her white muslin dress and blue sash became her well. The second, Louisa, was taller and more elegant in figure with a very pretty face. In fine, both sisters were as fair as lilies.
Lady Lynn was a large and stout personage of about forty, very erect, very haughty-looking, richly dressed in a satin robe of changeful sheen. Her dark hair shone glossily under the shade of an azure plume, and within the circlet of a band of gems.
Mrs Colonel Dent was less showy but more lady-like. She had a slight figure, a pale gentle face and fair hair. Her black satin dress, her scarf of rich foreign lace and her pearl ornaments pleased Jane better than the rainbow radiance of the titled dame.
But the three most distinguished, the tallest figures of the band, were the Dowager Lady Ingram and her daughters, Blanche and Mary. They were all three of the loftiest stature of women. The Dowager might be between forty and fifty. Her shape was still fine. Her hair was still black. Her teeth too were perfectly all right. She had Roman features and a double chin, disappearing into a throat like a pillar.
These features appeared to Jane not only inflated and darkened, but even furrowed with pride. Blanche and Mary were of equal stature. They were as straight and tall as poplars. Mary was too slim for her height but Blanche was moulded like a Dian.
During their discussion, the ladies started talking of the governesses they had for their children. One of them said, “I hate the very word—governess. The word itself makes me very nervous. Governesses are haughty and greedy.” The ladies kept on enumerating the faults of governesses.
Jane felt embarrassed a lot. So, she left the drawing room. While she was leaving, Mr Rochester saw her. He came up to her and said, “Jane! is there something wrong with you? Why do you go away from here? It does not behove you.”
Jane replied, “Sir! I am a bit tired. So, I need some rest.” Mr Rochester said to Jane in a humble voice, “Jane! I expect you to appear in the drawing room every evening. It is my wish. Don’t take it otherwise. Moreover, don’t go by the words of these ladies. Don’t take their words to heart.”
After promising Mr Rochester to be there on every evening, Jane Eyre returned to her bedroom.
